


To Learn

by SilverWhiteRaven



Series: MariBat Prompts and One-Shots [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Brucinette, Done for a Prompt, F/M, MariBat, One Shot, may expand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-23 03:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23138500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWhiteRaven/pseuds/SilverWhiteRaven
Summary: Bruce Wayne is still in training to become Batman, looking for new Masters to teach him. Alfred makes a suggestion to go to Paris, looking for a "Guardian". He didn't realize he wouldn't be prepared for what he encounters. A One-Shot, but may expand in the future.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Alix Kubdel, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Bruce Wayne
Series: MariBat Prompts and One-Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664065
Comments: 15
Kudos: 359





	To Learn

Bruce Wayne stepped from his private plane and onto the asphalt of the Paris Airport. He took a cursory glance around before taking the swiftest route out of the airport and to the sleek rental car he had prepared for him. 

He was alone on the trip, no Alfred to assist him on this particular journey. It was a bit nerve wracking, all things considered.

Bruce had been training for three years already all around the world in preparation for becoming Batman. Alfred had been the one to suggest this particular ‘Master’. But that wasn't the concerning part.

It concerned him that Alfred had been reluctant to suggest him. He had a look in his eye that Bruce would swear was that of not knowing something. Alfred being clueless was always a cause for concern,  _ always _ . 

But the understanding butler knew what this meant to Bruce, and gave him the instructions to find the mysterious Guardian. Bruce convincing him he was ready for anything that came his way also helped to ease the other’s worries.

As Bruce drove through the streets of Paris, he remembered being shocked to learn that this place, this proclaimed city of love, was where he would be training to fight the crime of the darkest city in the world. It had made him laugh when it reminded him of older children's shows proclaiming love to be able to conquer all evil.

It was a bit ironic since that wasn't what he was quite going for, but he would give the city a try for now, even if just for the lessons. 

He stopped the car, parked at the border of the park surrounding the Eiffel Tower where Alfred had suggested he go when he arrives. He stepped out of the car and leaned back into the vehicle as he looked up at the overshadowing tower and recalled what Alfred had said in his instructions.

“ _Stay there as long as it takes, Master Bruce, he will find you. The Guardians have a strange way of knowing where to be._ ”

He had tried to look into these ‘Guardians’, and he was a bit surprised at what he found.

Part of his research lead him to an old online archive, more of a blog, really, that detailed and recorded a fight in the city of Paris. He remembered back in college when the news of the three villains, first two, then a third born of the first two’s defeat, spread across the globe after they had all been taken down. Before that, it was mostly rumors and hearsay. Even catastrophic, world-affecting events hadn’t been connected to the Parisian villains until then.

Bruce had also come across on the blog the theory about an order that protected the miraculous, and how that theory questioned if their heroes, Ladybug, Chat Noir, and the other ‘Miraculous’ users, were mantles passed from hand to hand instead of immortal individuals like early the earliest theory suggested.

He had spoken to Alfred about it just before leaving on this trip, and the elder man had confirmed that the Master, the ‘Guardian’ he was sending Bruce to, was indeed part of a kind of order centered around these mystical items. He didn't elaborate too much, but he didn't need to, and Bruce accepted the answer in stride, though still with a grain of salt. 

Bruce watched the tower idly as the sun began to set, and he blinked when he saw two little figures appear on its peak. He didn't get to look for long before a loud *pop* brought his attention forward. 

A tall biker-styled woman with wild reddish-pink, black-tipped hair around his own age was leaning casually on a tree across the road, her eyes locked on him like a predator that already ate but didn't feel like laying down just yet. He looked at her critically in return until his eyes locked with her’s.

They seemed to scream even louder than even Alfred’s;  _ I know enough secrets to make the world burn. _

He sat up a little straighter, and with the setting sun framing her like a backdrop to a major climax, she shoved off her perch and came towards him.

She stopped before Bruce, looking him over critically before nodding like they were casual friends greeting each other.

“You're the Bat boy.” 

No question, no hesitation, she stated the fact like she knew it all her life. Maybe she did.

Bruce was still trying to formulate an answer when she turned on her heel and started strolling away. “Well, c’mon, won't be learning anything standing around like that.”

He hesitated only a moment before following her. 

He felt tense as they went, he knew nothing of this person or where she was taking him, but it wasn't like he had a choice. His brow furrowed as he wondered if  _ this _ was the Guardian. She didn't seem to fit the role. Her eyes spoke volumes, but somehow they didn't contain what he was looking for.

They stopped before the doors of a boutique, a sign declaring it closed, and the girl went in without hesitance. He followed before she could leave him behind. 

She led him to the back and up a couple flights of stairs into an apartment that resided above the business below. He was directed to take a seat in an sitting area clearly meant for taking on groups of guests, away from the more lived-in areas of the home. 

“Want anything to drink, Bat boy? They’ll be back soon, no point in waiting for them to show before showing a little hospitality.” 

He shook his head and declined, “No, thank you. They?”

The woman only grinned in response before taking a big bite out of a cupcake she must have scavenged from somewhere else without his notice.

He sat in a rather awkward silence while she remained casual as ever.

But soon enough, he heard twin thumps on the roof above, where he had earlier noted a balcony to have been. He stood at attention and alertness as he looked up towards it, but the other person with him remained unphased.

She finally stood up and joined him when quick footsteps came down the stairs and out came a tall blond man that Bruce recognized as Adrien Agreste, a fellow inheritor of a company at a young age. The other man’s eyes lit up at the sight of the woman with them, then they landed on Bruce and they got even brighter. 

“Sup Alix!” Adrien greeted, before he turned back and leaned in towards the stairs, “Hey Mari!” He called up. “You have a guest!”

“What?” Came the confused reply back. “Who is it?”

Now Alix was the one to reply. “I brought you someone, come see!”

There was silence for several beats before, “What day is it?” The voice now sounded panicked, and both Alix and Adrien began to snicker between them. 

“You tell me,” her voice was teasing as Alix yelled up the stairs, “You've been planning this day for years, if you don't hurry the world might end again.”

Frantic noise sounded from above, quieting down as thumps sounded on the stairs once more. Bruce watched as another woman, their age and a bit shorter than the other two people in the room, came gliding down the stairs like Cinderella escaping from the ball. She slowed at the landing and came up before him, a light in her eyes that he didn't expect from someone who moments ago sounded utterly unprepared.

“Hello! You must be Bruce,” he nodded as she continued, and her companions came up behind her like two knights with their Lady. “I’m Marinette. I’m the Guardian of the Miraculous. I’ve been expecting you.”

Finally, a thought occurred to him as he looked upon the Guardian, Marinette, and he swallowed.

_ Oh no _ , he thought,  _ Alfred was right. I am completely and utterly not ready for this. _


End file.
